Leo Hindery

Leo Hindery, Jr. is an American businessman, author, political activist and philanthropist.

Hindery is Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners, a New York-based media industry private equity fund. Until 2004, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The YES Network, the nation’s largest regional sports network which he founded in 2001 as the television home of the New York Yankees.

He headed Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) before it was merged into AT&T in 1999, when he became CEO of AT&T Broadband. Later, he was briefly interim CEO of GlobalCenter, a dot.com spinoff of Global Crossing. He exited Global Crossing after only seven months and was replaced by then board member and Vice Chairman Thomas Casey. At the time Hindery said, "I have done what I set out to do at Global Crossing -- improve operating management and rationalize operating assets, realize the value of GlobalCenter, and meet or exceed quarterly financial goals.".^[1] He was the 3rd CEO of Global Crossing in less than three years.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and from 2003 through December 2007 was Senate-appointed Vice Chair of the HELP Commission formed by an Act of Congress to improve U.S. foreign assistance. He is a Trustee of The New School University, a Director of the Library of Congress Trust Fund, the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, The Paley Center for Media and Teach for America, a member of the Board of Visitors of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and a member of the New America Foundation Leadership Council. Hindery has written two books. Hindery now lives in New York City. He also races cars, winning his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche GT3.

Politics

• In 2004, his name was floated as a possible successor to Terry McAuliffe as head of the Democratic National Committee.

• Hindery served as Senior Economic Policy Advisor for presidential candidate John Edwards from December 2006 until February 2008. He is currently acting as an economic advisor to Barack Obama. On the withdrawal of Bill Richardson as nominee for Secretary of Commerce on January 4, 2009 it was suggested that he might be a suitable replacement.^[2]

• On January 30, 2009, it was reported that Hindery's friendship and business partnership with former senator Tom Daschle might cause problems for the latter's Senate confirmation for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration. Daschle has been a consultant and advisor to Hindery's InterMedia Partners since 2005, during which time he received from Hindery access to a car and chauffeur. Daschle did not declare this service on his annual tax forms as required by law. (He reportedly paid the three years of owed taxes and interest in January 2009.) According to a Daschle spokeswoman, the former Senator "simply and probably naively considered its use a generous offer" from Hindery, "a longtime friend. On February 3, 2009 Daschle withdrew his nomination."^[3][4]

• On July 17, 2009, Hindery testified before the Subcommittee on Economic Policy, part of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The topic was "The U.S. as global competitor: what are the elements of a national manufacturing strategy?". Hindery was the second of three witnesses which included Mark Zandi, the chief economist and cofounder of Moody's Economy.com and Scott Paul, executive director for the Alliance for American Manufacturing.^[5]

• On August 3, 2010, Hindery took aim at the Obama Administration in his Huffington Post Article, entitled "Better Than Nothing" -- But We Need Much More When it Comes to Creating Jobs . The topic was the "Jobless Recovery" and how the Obama Administration needed to do much more to create jobs.

• On August 17, 2010, just two short weeks after he took aim at the Obama Administration, Hindery calls for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to resign. The Article was entitled "Treasury Secretary Geithner -- 'Spinning' Out of Control. In the Article, Leo Hindery continues his well publicized campaign to save the American Industrial Worker and tries to get the Obama administration to focus on jobs and job creation as the centermost issue in economics and politics.

Early Childhood

There has been much written on the validity of what Leo Hindery has said about his early childhood. What is known is that Leo Hindery had a tough childhood and was raised near Tacoma, Washington, as the son of a shoe salesman, Leo, Sr., and his wife Marie. Leo has said that things were very tough and that he sprang from poor circumstances.[1] Hindery told reporter Pranay Gupte that he was doing manual labor at 9 and from the age of 13 he worked at least 40 hours a week. "All my life, I have been financially independent as a result of work." His work took him into the Merchant Marine and through shipyards searching for work in the Pacific Northwest. From this early work, Leo Hindery saved up enough money to put himself through Stanford Business School. After Stanford, Leo Hindery went to work for Ed Littlefield at Utah International. Leo mentored for several years under Mr. Littlefield and in his book, "The Biggest Game of All" (see below for citation), Hindery says that this time "shaped his career and contributed to his success". It profoundly changed his life.

Chicago Cubs

Hindery was named as one of the finalists in the bidding for the Chicago Cubs in a partnership with private equity investor Marc Utay.^[6] The team was eventually sold to a family trust of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, with his son Tom Ricketts operating the team on a daily basis. The Ricketts family live and work in the Chicago, Illinois area.

Books

• It Takes a CEO ISBN 0743269853
• The Biggest Game of All ISBN 0743229002.

Notes